b'8American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(PUSHEScontinued fromnumbers went from 240 tonscapital improvement program page 2) in 2019 to 237 tons in 2020tomodernizeandupdatethe and 328 tons last year. cargo and passenger service. i mportsD ominatemia s ThesenumbersareonlyThis is Nares sixth year p erishablev olumes for origin and destination trade.withMIA,wherehisfocus NaressaidthatimportsNotincludedarein-transithas been cargo and business dominateMIAsperishablefreight, which would be signifi- development. I oversee per-volume.CentralAmerica,cantly greater, Nares noted. ishables,whicharethepri-South America and the Carib- The growth is why weremaryimport.Exportsfrom bean are primary sources ofexpandingtokeepupwithMiamiInternationalAirport perishables. cargo business. aremorehightechgoods. Because of its cut flowerAsMIAhasbeenaThe makeup of what we ship trade,Colombiaisthetopmajorperishableshubforoutandreceiveinarevery volumesourceforperish- manyyears,ithasamasseddifferent.ablesenteringMiamiInter- the necessary infrastructure toIn 2020, MIA accounted national Airport. handle and store such temper- for 69.8% of all U.S. perish-Withitscutflowerature-sensitive products. Withables air imports which were exports,Ecuadoristhe395,000 square feet of on-air- primarily flowers, fruits and secondperishablesexporterport refrigerated cooler space,vegetables, and seafood.toMiamiAirport.RankedMIA is the largest in the U.S.OfMIAs327,786tons thirdonMIAsperishableswith such capabilities. offlowerimportsin2021, chartisChileanseafood.Weown,operateand92%oftheimportswere CentralAmericancountriesmanagetheterminal,butfrom Colombia and Ecuador. follow in volume ranking.logisticscompaniesrenttheColombiashipped228,540 Nares said that, over thespace and operate their owntons, or 69.4% of all of MIAs last five or ten years, Miamicoolers. Some of the facili- flowerimportsandEcuador has received between 88 andties are a little older. Theyvewas the source of 74,294 tons, 91% of all fresh cut flowershad them for a while. or 22.6% of all of Miamis air imported by the US.Thus,theneedforthecargo flower imports. Flowers being offloaded at MIA for Valentines DayHereiterated:Nineof tenimportedcutflowers enteringtheUnitedStates arrivethroughMiami. Val-entinesDayandMothers Day are the biggest holidays for this volume. OntheeveofMothers Day 2022, Nares offered that theAssociationofFlower Importers of Florida projects a volume increase of 10- to-15-percentforU.S.imports of flowers by ocean and air. HesaidMiamireceives 70% of all U.S. air perishable imports, including flowers, fruits, vegetables, and seafood.AndflowersfromHol-land? mainflowers are flownSustainabilityDutch to New York, which is closer to theirandmarket. Our geog- Is Our Businessraphy,primarily,aircon-nections bring Latin American perishables to Miami. Histori-cally, we are the main entry pointforLatinAmerican cargo.Miami International enjoys a network of many passen-ger planes with belly cargo. And we have many that are only freight, with service from manycitiesinColombiaand majorSouthAmericanand Central American countries.m iamib oastse xtensivea irn etWorkMiamisextensiveair routenetworkforfreighter service(cargo-onlyaircraft) withtopflowerproducing marketsinvolves10air-lineswithservicebetween Miami and Bogota. Medellin, Colombia, also has strong air freight services, with five air-Food Waste Mitigationlines offering direct routes. Sustainable Reefer Low GWP Through Leading EdgeBamboo Container FromEcuador,fourair- Technology Refrigerants Technologies Flooringlines operate freighter service between Miami and Quito. Interestingly,duringthe pandemic, MIAs perishablesIts not just the box SeaCubevolume grew overall. Peopleits our approach to offering sustainable fleet solutions bundled stayedhomeandtherewaswith leading edge technology that makes the difference. C O N T A I N E R L E A S I N GagreaterdemandforfreshVisit www.seacubecontainers.com to learn more. seacubecontainers.comproducts, Nares said.From 2019 to 2021, Miamis flower volume rose 37%. The BSYA-SeaCube Sustainability AJOC 8x10.indd 1 3/30/22 11:20 PM'